Ahhh, Abs…my personally most put-off exercise! The current workout that I am doing does not have abs in the mix, so I tend to not do them, BUT had started to add them back in here and there. The routine I am doing has me doing TONS of supersets with little recovery and I don’t have a ton of time TO workout so when I do work my abs I do exercises that are the most efficient, utilizing most of the abdominal muscles, including the obliques. I recall when going through my group fitness certification that the instructor mentioned that if she could only do one abdominal exercise she would do the bicycle crunch as it works all the abdominal and obliques!

What is a bicycle crunch? Start on your back with your hands behind your head with elbows bent and feet on the floor with knees bent. Lift your left knee to touch your right elbow simultaneously in a slight twisting motion. Keeping your feet and head and upper back off the floor switch elbow and leg while simultaneously straightening the left leg and right elbow. If I totally have you confused watch this YouTube video for instruction.

As with just about every exercise, do this with slow controlled motion. It is better to do 15 on each side in slow controlled motion than 100 at Mach 1 speed! While doing the exercise flex those ab muscles and even pause slightly as you are switching legs.

THIS WEEK’S CHALLENGE: Do 3-5 sets of 15 repetitions on each side (30 count total) with one minute rest in-between sets. Do three times in the next week, giving yourself at least one day off in-between to let your abs recover.